


Death Is As A Lover’s Pinch

by EmilyScarlett



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith (Voltron) Needs a Hug, M/M, Pre-Slash, and he gets one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-21 00:23:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13729191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmilyScarlett/pseuds/EmilyScarlett
Summary: Lance talks to Keith about the way he tried to take down the barrier and save Naxzela.





	Death Is As A Lover’s Pinch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elfiethewicked](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elfiethewicked/gifts).



> For elfiethewicked, Happy Birthday lovely!

 

Matt didn’t know what to do. Obviously someone needed to talk to Keith about what he’d tried to do to save Naxzela but when he’d attempted to approach him, Keith had brushed him off and was now avoiding Matt completely. Since the paladins had no idea, none of them were going to be able to do it, but Matt wasn’t willing to let this lie.

 

His first thought had been to tell Shiro. From what he’d seen, Keith and Shiro were close enough to practically be brothers and they’d known each other for a long time. He remembered Shiro talking about Keith when they were on the Kerberos mission together, how the warm affection in his voice had made him miss his own sibling. 

 

The problem was that Shiro and Allura were both busy dealing with Lotor, locked in one of the ship’s holding cells for now while the two ascertained if there was even a sliver of a chance that they could trust him, before they consulted the rest of the rebels on what to do about his presence and offer of help. So telling Shiro so that he could speak to Keith was a no go.

 

He decided to go to his sibling and see if, without telling them the whole situation, they could offer any advice. He found them in their room, playing one of the game consoles they’d somehow managed to get to work on the ship.

 

“Hey Pidge, do you have a minute? It’s kinda important.”

“Sure,” they said, putting the game aside. “What’s up?” Matt hesitated. Pidge’s brow crumpled. “Hey,” they said, “whatever it is, you can tell me. You’re my brother and I love you, no matter what, ok?”

“It’s about Keith,” Matt blurted out. “I’m worried about him and I can’t tell you why but I think someone needs to talk to him and Shiro’s busy and I don’t know who else to tell and-”

“Woah!” Pidge interrupted. “Take a breath. It’s ok. You’re sure you can’t tell me why you’re worried about him?”

“No, I think he’d be mad if I did and I think this needs to be a one on one conversation.”

“Ok then. You should tell Lance.” Matt was stunned for a second. 

“I never got the impression that they were close,” he stated.

“Just trust me,” Pidge answered, smirking a little. “Tell Lance.”

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

The last person that Lance expected to come and find him while he was training was Matt. He’d tried his best not to act unfriendly towards the guy but some of his jealousy had still slipped through. It wasn’t just that Allura liked him, it was also that Matt got to work more closely with Keith than he did these days and that got to Lance. He’d tried not to let his feelings show -his jealousy was his problem- but he got a sense that he’d let some of it slip and Matt knew how he felt. So a visit from him was definitely a surprise.

 

He turned off the training programme before turning to face his visitor.

“Hey man, didn’t expect to see you here,” he chimed breezily. Maybe a little too breezily, he chided himself.

“Yeah, uh, I need to talk to you?” It came out like a question, like Matt wasn’t quite sure how he’d be received and Lance felt bad.

“Yeah, sure, what’s up?” he asked gesturing to a bench, which they both sat on.

“It’s about Keith. I’m worried about him and I think someone needs to talk to him and uh, Pidge said that I should tell you.”

Alarm bells went off in Lance’s head. Keith had seemed off since they’d come back from Naxzela. He’d assumed that it had just been worry about Lotor that had had him acting strangely, but what if something worse was wrong with him? Not to mention, apparently Pidge knew about his crush on Keith.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, more serious now.

“On Naxzela, he was going to fly himself into the barrier to bring it down before Lotor showed up. He would have died, and I think someone should talk to him about that but he’s been avoiding me since it happened and…”

 

The rest faded into the background as Lance processed what Matt had just said. Keith could have died and he wouldn’t have known about it until afterwards. Horror slowly froze his chest as he realized what he’d almost lost. How could Keith have nearly done that?

 

“I’ll talk to him,” he blurted out as he scrambled to his feet, cutting off whatever Matt was saying. “I’ll talk to him right now.”

 

He raced out of the training room and straight to Keith’s quarters. He guessed that Keith would be there, since that’s where he was most of the time these days. He knocked frantically on the door, heard Keith calling him in, and was inside the room before he’d even considered what he was going to say. 

 

“Yeah?” Keith asked, looking a bit startled at his abrupt entrance.

“Naxzela,” Lance spouted, before he was aware he was speaking. “You were going to fly your ship into the barrier to bring it down, weren’t you?”

Keith didn’t say anything and Lance was filled with a frantic, distraught feeling that brought tears to his eyes.

“Weren’t you?!” he shouted, again.

“Yes!” Keith shouted back. “Yeah, I was, ok!”

“What the hell were you thinking?! You would have died!”

“I was thinking that there were 10 solar systems about to be completely destroyed along with the Blade of Marmora and every other rebel! I was thinking that my family, you guys, were about to die! What could my life matter in comparison to all of that? Besides, what do you care? You don’t like me anyway.”

 

Lance was do blindsided by the idea that Keith thought he didn’t like him that he couldn’t speak for a few seconds.

“You think I don’t like you?” he asked incredulously. “Do you think I would have come in here so upset if I didn’t like you? I lo-” He cut himself off. Now wasn’t the time to say that. “Look, I care about you. You  _ matter _ . And not just to me, to everyone. What you were going to do was really brave, but we can’t afford to lose you. You’re important, ok?”

 

It was Keith’s turn to be speechless apparently. He looked lost, and a little teary. Lance’s heart was about to give up on him.

“Can I hug you?” The words were out before he realised he’d even thought them. Keith looked startled and Lance was about to turn it into some kind of joke and leave, but then Keith hesitantly nodded. Lance pulled him in and held him firmly until Keith relaxed and let his head drop onto Lance’s shoulder, despite him being slightly shorter than Keith.

 

“Just, don’t you do something so stupid again, ok?” Lance murmured. “Talk to us, we’ll find a different way. We love you too much to lose you. Promise me.”

“I promise,” Keith muttered back.


End file.
